Comptroller: New York’s Budget Gap May Grow to $1 Billion

New York’s deficit for the current year, pegged by the Division of Budget at $315 million, may more than triple, Deputy Comptroller Tom Nitido said at a hearing.

This year’s gap is followed by a $9 billion deficit in the year beginning April 1, according to budget documents. Next year’s deficit may be $9.3 billion if lawmakers don’t agree to eliminate this year’s deficit with spending cuts, according to the budget director, Robert Megna.

Governor David Paterson said he plans to call lawmakers back to Albany, the state capital, to approve spending cuts at a date still to be determined.

“Everyone would agree that the gap is between $9 billion and $10 billion,” Megna said after listening to spending and revenue estimates by the comptroller’s office and finance staff of the state Senate and Assembly. Nitido’s $1 billion projection for this year’s gap “is not outlandish,” Megna said at the Albany hearing.

The state’s basic problem is that spending for programs approved by lawmakers and governors in past years is expected to grow faster than tax revenue, as the economy and Wall Street are slow to recover from the recession, Megna said.

New York, the third most-populous state, expects to lose $5.4 billion next year as federal economic stimulus aid winds down, Megna said. That money would be replaced with state funds under existing law, Megna said.

In the Medicaid health-care program for the poor, the end of the additional federal aid in June will would increase the share paid by New York state and local governments to 50 percent from 38 percent, he said.

New York s deficit for the current year, pegged by the Division of Budget at $315 million, may more than triple, Deputy Comptroller Tom Nitido said at a hearing.This year s gap is followed by a $9 billion deficit in the year beginning April 1, according to budget documents....